As Complicated As Love
by Agent0007
Summary: Love doesn't make the world go round. Love is what makes the ride worthwhile. Nate's having a rough time getting over Hannah Montana. His family thinks a vacation to NY will fix things, but will it end up making everything a lot worse? Nalex/Shalex
1. Prologue

Mmkay, so let me start off by saying...this is my first fanfic, so I might be suckish and stuff, so just please be nice and tell me about which parts I suck the most :)

And anyway, I know this first part is sorta boring, but I'm making this like...THE PROLOGUE. So, yeah, just please finish reading it and I promise that the next few chapters will (hopefully) be better.

**_Disclaimer: I own nothing._ (I wasn't planning on putting that, but like almost everyone does in their stories, so I do, too. Haha)**

**AS COMPLICATED AS LOVE - CHAPTER UNO**

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"Shane, Nate, Jason! Over _here_!" A desperate photographer yelled. Actually, it wasn't just that desperate photographer. Everybody seemed to be pouncing unto the trio, screeching their heads off. Well, that would be a normal reaction. They were, after all, the famous Connect Three.

The three toned, well-built, and of course—handsome boys walked briskly towards their jet. They had just finished a three-day concert in California, and were going to New York the next day. They would stay there for quite a while; it was sort of how their father repaid them for all their hard work. Mr. and Mrs. Gray had already settled themselves into the private jet as Nate, Jason and Shane waved their last good-byes. The three of them began to get inside the jet, since they were just standing near the door, and after a few seconds, the door was closed by one of the stewardesses. Shane swore that he heard a couple of girls sob.

"That was awkward," Shane shrugged as he plopped himself down on the chair next to the plasma TV. "I mean, did you hear that one girl actually _cry_? I mean, with the red face and the puffy eyes—it's creepy." He cringed, hoping to lighten the mood.

In response, Nate groaned, annoyed. He obviously wasn't in the mood. He was _never_ in the mood, not since the diva of divas, the "superpopstar" of Hollywood, none other than Hannah Montana, broke up with him. Well, more like cheated on him and never called him back. Whatever. It didn't matter anymore. Nate's heart had been broken; he doubted that it would ever be fixed again.

Seeing Nate depressed worried Jason, since he was the caring big brother. He glanced at Shane, who shrugged. "So, Nate," Jason began, "What do you think about New York?"

Nate slumped as he opened the mini-fridge and got a diet Coke and sat on the nearest seat. "I dunno." At that moment, the seatbelt sign had turned on, and Jason took his seat beside Nate, while Shane was on his other side.

"You're still upset, huh?" Shane asked, not seeing how dumb his question actually was. Nate rolled his eyes, obviously uninterested in the topic. "Well, don't worry, 'cause New York will be awesome! We'll be there for a long time, too, so we can make a lot of new friends and—"

"Just stop, Shane, okay?!" Nate exploded, holding back the tears. He was irritated by the fact that whenever he'd have a talk with his brothers, the only thing they'd talk about was finding him a girlfriend. He wasn't ready to move on yet. How hard was that to understand?

"Dude, I'm just trying to help!" Shane shot back, Nate's anger causing him to be irate, too.

"Boys, stop it," Mr. Gray cleared his throat, frowning. "Give your brother some space."

"He just came through a very difficult…_break-up_," Mrs. Gray tried to sound consoling, "And Nate? Be nice to your brothers. Shane's right—New York will be wonderful."

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_RIIIIIIING! _Alex's alarm clock screeched. She groaned, yet remained calm.

_Saturday_. Thank _God_! Alex had enough of waking up early and getting detention for being late. Finally, the weekend was here! 'I can sleep as late as I want to,' She thought lazily, practically punching the snooze button. She flipped backwards and fell back to sleep.

"Alex! _Alex_!" A familiar voice screamed, jolting Alex from her peaceful slumber. She groaned—why now?! Of all the times Harper had to run into her room and wake her up, why did it have to happen on a Saturday? Alex pretended to still be asleep, hoping that Harper would buy it and go away.

Alex's door opened, and she heard Harper's footsteps approach her and nudge her shoulder. "If you're not waking up," Harper warned, "I'm going to have to throw this ice-cold bucket of water on you," Alex felt Harper flick cold water on her. She moaned—she knew for a fact that Harper _would _pour the bucket of water on her.

"What?!" Alex asked groggily, rubbing her eyes and sitting upright. There standing in front of her—looking extra stupid, since she was carrying a bucket of water—was her best friend, Harper Finkle, wearing one of her "original" creations which consisted of a million smiley-faced buttons all over a plain blue dress. If you weren't looking at it right, you'd say that Harper's face was a huge smiley-face button, too. It looked so weird.

"You'll never guess what!" Harper grinned widely, gently putting her bucket of water down. She jumped on Alex's soft bed, "But first—like my outfit?"

"Yes, I love it," Alex sarcastically stated, though Harper seemed to believe her. "…but what's up with the faces?"

"Well, I think they represent my mood." Harper defended herself.

"Oh, what's that? Insanely _high_?" Alex chuckled to herself and got up, tying her messy raven tresses into a loose ponytail.

"No, silly!" Harper shook her head, "Happy! Can't you see?" She imitated the smile of the button. "And you know why?" Alex looked at her in a 'you-really-want-me-to-guess?' kind of way. She sighed in defeat, "Okay, I'll tell you! Guess which absolutely hot band is coming to New York!"

"Um…" Alex nibbled on her lower lip, thinking. "Metro Station?" Her smile grew bigger. "Oh my—"

"Not _that_ hot band, Alex," Harper shook her head, "Connect Three!" She squealed before jumping up and down, like a possessed pogo stick. She jumped around in circles, expecting Alex to join her funfest. But instead of hopping up and down, Alex raised a brow.

"Ew. Connect Three?" Alex shook her head, "_Justin _listens to that. It's like some geeky cult or something. Seriously, Harper?"

"Yeah, I like them," Harper calmed herself down and stopped jumping. "They're gonna be here for a couple of months." She grinned wildly. She always had this thing for older guys—a.k.a. Jason Gray, the guitarist. Alex just sat there, watching Harper daydream about Jason. She grinned as she imagined Justin doing the same thing—he was obsessed with Connect Three, too.

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"How long are we gonna be here?" Nate complained as he shut the limo's door. He was sick of the limelight, of the girls throwing themselves at him. He just wanted one girl—Hannah, and even a vacation to New York wouldn't change anything. Well, he doubted it, that's for sure.

"Five months," Shane smiled, happy. "We'll be staying at some fancy hotel dad booked for us."

"Where's Frankie, by the way? Still stuck in New Jersey?" Jason chuckled; Frankie had been left behind since the brothers were touring—but he was safe with their Aunt Sally.

"Your Aunt's bringing him here tomorrow," Mr. Gray murmured, flipping a page of his newspaper.

'Great,' Nate thought, a little bit happier. Frankie had always cheered him up, somehow, because he and his jolly nine-year-old self always lifted his mood.

After a few minutes of driving, the Gray brothers, along with their parents, finally arrived at The New York Palace, which was absolutely stunning. Mr. and Mrs. Gray got their separate room—with an extra bed for Frankie the next day—while the brothers had their own just across the hall.

"Okay guys, we have to unpack first before we go out of this room." Jason announced as he and his brothers settled into their suite. He opened his bag and started arranging his shirts inside one of the cabinets.

"What, why?" Shane—the lazy one of the three—queried, not in the mood to move. "I'm still sick with jetlag. Can I go…to some place outside—let's say the mall—and hang-out first?"

"No, my horoscope says bad things will happen if we don't get the important things done first," Jason sternly stated as Nate began unpacking, too. Fast forward thirty minutes later; Jason was tidying up his side of the room, putting their guitars in a straight line against the wall. Nate, being depressed and all, turned to the TV, while Shane was just dying to go out and check out the…people.

"Guys, wanna go out with me?" He offered, grabbing a Fedora, black Ray Ban shades and a jacket. Jason obviously wasn't paying attention while Nate was being Mr. Grumpy, so Shane proceeded to the mall, very carefully wearing his disguise.

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"Where do we go next?" Harper asked enthusiastically, carrying three shopping bags. Alex and her had been going on a big spending spree since there was a huge sale.

"I don't know, I think we've been to all the stores!" Alex exclaimed, exhausted. Dangling on her arms were six shopping bags. "You wanna take a break and go to Milkyway?"

"Wait—isn't that like a bajillion miles away?" Harper stopped and thought, a daft look on her face.

"It's a smoothie store, Einstein." Alex rolled her eyes, though she was amused. "Now stop thinking or you'll give your head a real beating." She grabbed Harper by the wrist and dragged her to Milkyway.

Meanwhile, just outside Milkyway, a cautious yet thankful (that he wasn't being chased by billions of girls and that his 'disguise' really worked) Shane Gray hesitated on going in. Well, first, he _was_ thirsty, and he couldn't just be prancing around the mall, risking his very life.

'Oh well,' Shane thought as he got inside. He fast-walked as he spotted two girls walking behind him and beat them to the cashier. He snickered silently, looking back at them, hoping to show the girls his victory face, as if to say 'Ha-ha, I beat you to the cash register, I'll get my smoothies first and you'll both be sore losers'. But, things turned out a little differently.

You see, it was Alex and Harper who happened to go in behind Shane (well, of course, they didn't really know it _was_ him). When Shane looked back at both of them, Alex also coincidentally looked right at him, causing their eyes to lock for a few seconds. A few heart-thumping, knee-wobbling, body-melting seconds…for Shane, at least. For some odd reason, Shane experienced 'love-at-first-sight'—yes, that whole little cliché. Her big brown eyes captured his whole attention and her cute—no, that would be disrespect to call her cute—on second thought, her absolutely beautiful face, her figure, her overall aura, what boy in the right mind WOULDN'T be mesmerized by this girl?

"Hey, sir? You're holding up a line." Shane broke off from his trance just as Alex was about to give him a small smile.

Shane grew grumpy—and Alex was just, well, freaked out. What a douche. She was going to smile at him and then he just turned his head impolitely. Oh well, there were a lot of other good-looking guys out there.

The cashier waved her hands right in front of Shane, catching his attention. "What can I give you?"

"Just a strawberry smoothie, extra…strawberries."

"Great, that'll be four dollars, please." Shane gave the girl his money, and the cashier gave him his change. "Hold on," She said as she went to the kitchen and got him a smoothie. Shane chuckled; Hold On had been one of their songs.

"Here you go," The cashier emerged from the kitchen and handed Shane his smoothie.

_Great_, Shane thought, smiling as he got his smoothie, _now I can go talk to that girl_. He gave the cashier an extra—his signature melting smile. "Thanks," He murmured softly.

The cashier got it. She figured it out. In less than a second, Shane regretted everything. "OH MY GREY! IT'S…IT'S…SHANE! AHHHH." The girl started to scream and began to reach out to Shane, with the counter separating them. Her hands roughly pushed Shane backwards, causing him to lose his balance and spill his strawberry smoothie on the girl standing right beside him (who he noticed smelled like vanilla perfume)…_Alex_.

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Heyyy:)

**Okay, thanks for reading! Um, yeah, I know that that was...well, boring as death, but I swear, the next chapter will be wayyy better :D Please be a saint and give me a review? Flames are welcome, and I wouldn't mind some constructive criticism, or a simple "I LOVED IT" (What? 'Don't push it'? Oh, okay.) Well, yeah. Thanks for sticking with me through the whole chapter. :) You guys are awesome.**


	2. I First Impressions

Okay, because for some reason, I accidentally put 'CHAPTER UNO' on the other one, but it was just the prologue, okay? :) By the way, I forgot to mention that in this thingy-ma-jiggy, Alex, Max and Justin aren't wizards. So yeah.

Sorry for the slowness of the updates and stuff. Those who reviewed, I will send you a thank you message after I upload this. SO YEAH: )

**ENJOY**

**PS: I DON'T OWN ANYTHING BUT MY SOUL :)**

**PSS/PPS: Sorry for any mistakes, grammatical, spelling wise, whatever.**

**Here goes**

**CHAPTER UNO - FIRST IMPRESSIONS**

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The cashier kept on screeching like a deranged banshee when Alex felt something extra-cold fall on her chest. No, no—not on her newly bought t-shirt! Okay, so no matter how…attractive this guy in front of her was, she was going to give him a real beating.

"Oh my goodness!" Harper exclaimed suddenly, giving Alex a jolt. "Did she just say…_Shane Gray_?!" Harper turned bright red and began fanning herself with her hands.

"Wait, Shane Gray?" Alex raised a brow, puzzled. She knew that name…which probably meant that Shane Gray was someone famous. "Oh, right—from that gay band Justin listens to all the time!" She said a little too loudly. "You're Shane Gray?" She asked the dude in front of her (who totally looked amazing with his Fedora, black Ray Ban shades and jacket).

Okay, first, Shane didn't know how to react: either (a) be swept off his feet because this girl behind him was totally _hot_ when she was mad, (b) be fuming furious because this insanely hot girl just called their band 'gay', or (c) be running for his life because he had just been found out. "Yeah, I'm Shane Gray." He smirked and said it a little bit too cockily, giving Alex the wrong impression.

For any ordinary girl, that five-star smirk would've knocked her off her feet, but Alex was not ordinary. At all. There was a long, dragging silence as Shane waited for Alex to declare her undying affection for him and his hotness. Meanwhile, Alex was waiting for an apology. She honestly didn't need some big-headed, conceited "rock star" treat her like dirt.

"Well?" Shane asked after a few minutes, ready to run away once he saw that a crowd of shirt-ripping girls had formed right outside the door. He didn't mean to sound impolite, though.

"Well, _Shane Gray_, since when did you think that spilling smoothies on someone was okay, and then _not _apologizing would make things better?!" Alex spat, fuming. It didn't help that she was PMS-ing that day.

"What?!" Shane furrowed his brows, confused. _Oh, right_. He completely forgot—he'd spilled his drink on her. "Oh, _oh_…"

"You…you self-centered wanna-be rock stars really think you're all that, huh?" Alex frowned, upset. "What? You think just 'cause you're all famous and overly-rich that you can treat me like dirt? Like you don't have to apologize because you're all privileged and because you're a celebrity?" She left Shane speechless. "C'mon, Harper, let's go." She said as she walked out of the store.

Harper stayed behind, though. "I'm sorry about that," She murmured softly, chuckling, hoping to lighten the mood. Shane was just so stunned, he couldn't say anything. "My friend—Alex—she acts all evil-like when she's PMS-ing. She's awesome on regular days, though."

"_HARPER_!" Alex came back in, irritated, as she grabbed her best friend by the wrist, "What did I tell you about talking to other people about my menstrual cycle? Let's get out of here." The two of them stormed out of Milkyway, leaving Shane, well…_confused._

"Alex," He smiled to himself as he got out of his daze and made a run for it.

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"Alex, what is wrong with you?" Harper gasped as she caught up with her friend. "Don't you know that Shane is super famous?"

"So?" Alex asked, a bit offended. "That doesn't mean he can treat people as if they're inferior just because he's well-known." She added, "And besides—he spilled his strawberry smoothie on me!" Her angry mood quickly changed to a perky, bubbly one. "Gives me an excuse to buy a new shirt!"

"Well, shouldn't you be thanking him for that?" Harper asked, confused now.

"Yeah, but I'm not gonna say that to his face!" Alex shook her head, "I just gave the guy a real beating! I can't just go, 'Hey, by the way, thanks for spilling your smoothie on me'. That would totally just ruin the whole point for the argument."

"Ah, you're right there," Harper nodded. "Besides, I think it was kinda mean that he didn't apologize."

"I _know_!" Alex nodded as both of them entered a thrift store. "But I have to thank him for another thing—not just for the excuse to buy a shirt."

"What's that?" Harper questioned, curious.

"Now I can sell this shirt to Justin." She winked at Harper.

"Why would Justin want _that_?"

"Because he's a huge fan of Connect Three—once he knows that Shane Gray spilled his smoothie on this shirt, he's going to pay, like, billions to get this shirt."

"But Shane didn't even get to drink the smoothie, which makes it totally useless."

"Justin doesn't need to know," Alex smirked, putting her index finger near her lip.

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Shane caught up with his breath as he shut their hotel door. Running five blocks from the mall to the hotel totally wore him off. Man, girls were crazy. Wait, speaking of girls…

"_Alex_," He murmured again, his mood getting happier.

"Who?" Nate asked lazily as he sighed at what he saw on the TV: Hannah Montana's concert preview. He shut the TV and moved on to the bed, where Jason was playing Pop the Bubbles on his laptop.

"This amazing girl I met at the mall." Shane smiled as he sat on the empty bed, taking off his shades, hat and jacket. "Well, not really _met_, more like argued with." He shrugged.

"Wait—don't tell me a girl really had the guts to…_disagree_ with _the _Shane Gray?" Nate laughed—no one ever dared to do _that_ before!

"No, I just spilled my drink on her and forgot to apologize." Shane smirked, "She grew all ballistic and wild and began freaking out at me—but not in a good way." Nate raised a brow curiously—was this still the 'amazing girl Shane met at the mall'? "She was so _hot_."

"You have weird taste for women," Nate commented, shaking his head. Shane thought of a billion witty comebacks about Nate and _his_ taste for women, but kept his mouth shut. He knew Nate was already so hurt inside.

"So, what time is Frankie coming tomorrow?" Shane asked, changing the topic.

"About eight o'clock in the morning," Nate responded. "I volunteered to pick him up from the airport, since, you know—_I can drive now_." He was just rubbing it in Shane's face that he got his license while Shane didn't pass the driving test.

"Yeah, with any adult beyond twenty-five." Shane rolled his eyes. "Is Big Rob goin' with you?" Nate nodded.

"After picking him up, I'm going to show him some cool stuff, like the park, and stuff like that." Nate explained, "And then we'll meet up at some place for lunch."

"Awesome, have you decided where yet?" Shane questioned; he had always been the foodie.

"Nope, but I'll text you tomorrow, when Frankie and I see some place cool."

"Whatever you say," Shane shook his head.

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"Hey, Justin," Alex grinned as she knocked on her big brother's bedroom door. It was eight o'clock in the morning, and Justin was just getting up. "You like Connect Three, right?"

What a random question. Of all the things Alex would talk to him about, Connect Three might've been at the end of the list. "Um, yes, yes I do." Justin grinned proudly, hoping that his sister had become a fan overnight. Suddenly, he had the feeling that he was being tricked. "…why?" He asked curiously.

"Well, last night, Shane Gray was right in front of me at Milkyway," Alex began and held up her t-shirt, "And he spilled his drink all over me."

Justin _had_ read about the crazy girl who yelled at Shane Gray before he made a run for it. Without thinking about anything else, Justin blurted out, "How much for the shirt?!"

"Ew, you should like a fan girl." Alex teased, "Fifty bucks,"

"Deal!" Justin said excitedly, grabbing his piggy bank (Alex laughed in her head. It was all pink and fat) and took out a crisp fifty dollar bill. Justin gave it to his sister and she carelessly threw the shirt at him.

"Justin, I've got a question," She murmured, toying with her newly earned cash, "Why the excitement for the shirt? I mean, it's just Shane's drink." Then suddenly, a weird, twisted thought dawned upon her, "Oh God, please don't tell me you're gay. I mean, I know I've called you gay like a billion times before, but please tell me you're not serious!"

"Chill, Alex." Justin shook his head, "I like girls, not guys, okay? Though Zeke is a very good friend of mine, but anyway, do you have any idea how much this shirt will cost on e-bay? And how much it will cost twenty years from now?"

"Hmm…I guess I should've thought of that," Alex shrugged, "Geek." She murmured before walking off. She skipped towards their kitchen, where Teresa was making pancakes, and Max was eagerly sitting on the dining chair, persuading Teresa…with something related to basketball.

"No, Maxy, basketball is too dangerous." Teresa sounded firm as she flipped the pancakes on her frying pan. "Do you know how you can collapse when that dangerous orange ball hits your head?"  
"Psh, mom, _chill_." Alex intervened, "Basketball is _not_ dangerous. If it were, Justin would be dead by now." Max chuckled. "What's up, Max?" She asked.

"Well, my friends are playing basketball later, and I really want to go." Max gave his mom the puppy-dog pout. "Please, mom?"

"No one's going to go with you, anyway," Teresa pressed.

"Alex can go with me!" Max exclaimed, gripping on Alex's skinny arm.

"…I can?" She raised a brow, "I can_not_, Max, you are a liar!" She frowned at him.

"Go with me and Justin will have to cover both our shifts in the substation." Max whispered, a sly smile on his face.

"Ah...I mean, I _can_ go." Alex beamed at Teresa, "And I really, really want to spend some quality time with my little brother."

Teresa sighed in defeat, "I guess basketball and your sister watching over you won't hurt."

"Yes!" Alex and Max gave each other hi-fives. "I get to go out and Justin works for my shift. It's like hitting two stones with one bird!" Max gave her a 'what-the-heck?' look, "…or something like that. Sheesh." She changed the topic, "What time are we leaving?"

"About ten," Max said and grabbed a pancake.

"Cool."

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"How are you, little guy?" Nate gave Frankie a warm hug, and for that split second, even forgot about his break-up. Frankie was always a happy little fellow.

"I'm great," Frankie hugged him back, "But I'm sick of Aunt Sally and her house that smells like dead cats." He shrugged as Nate put him down. He gave Big Rob a hi-five.

As usual, the paparazzi followed the two brothers and Big Rob around the airport, claiming luggage and all that. But as they got into their car, though, the paparazzi went away.

"Where do you wanna go?" Nate asked casually.

"I dunno. Let's just drive by and see if we find some place interesting," Frankie answered. Nate was shocked at how mature he sounded—wasn't this his little brother who enjoyed eating boogers for a pastime? He chuckled and nodded.

"You miss us?" Nate joked.

"Not really," Frankie shrugged, "We're men, Nate. We don't miss."

"I wish," Nate murmured under his breath.

"By the way," Frankie said, "What time is it?"

"Ten twenty," Nate answered, checking his watch. They drove around for a little while until they passed a basketball court where some other eight-year-olds were playing pathetically (in Nate's point of view, at least). A few meters away, some girls were dancing.

"Hey! Let's stop here!" Frankie suggested—he had always been a fan of basketball ever since Shane made him watch a video of Shaq.

"Sure," Nate nodded, putting a hat on. "Hey, Big Rob, you don't need to go out with us. We don't really wanna draw attention."

"Copy that!" Frankie echoed, smiling.

They got down and went near the kids playing basketball. Frankie seemed mesmerized. Nate, on the other hand, was as bored as dead people, and decided to watch the girls who were dancing. The song was "Freeze" by T-Pain and Chris Brown and everyone danced equally awesome…except this one girl at the front (their backs were faced to him, by the way) who danced like those trained dancers in the movies. She was…amazing to watch.

The only thing in Nate's mind was 'Who is she?'

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Rewind twenty minutes ago…

"Ugh, this is so boring." Alex frowned and settled herself on one of the bleachers. Watching eight-year-olds play basketball was…unexciting and dragging. All they were doing is running around, not even caring that the dude with the ball was on the other edge. It was like they were playing tag…and one guy was bringing a ball. "Even Justin plays better than those guys," She shook her head and reminded herself that they were, in fact, eight.

Suddenly, her sidekick vibrated. It was a message from Anna, her friend from school. It said "Hey gurl. You're part of the dance crew aren't u? we're having a performance in school for the homecoming, so we're gonna have to make something up. Wanna meet up and practice? Any suggestions for venue?"

Immediately, Alex replied, "thank goodness! U saved me!! Come by the basketball court near the substation RIGHT NOWW. :] let's get started as early as possible. Watching 8-year-olds play bball is sooo boring. bring a cd player or something. Lets dance to something cool lyk a hip hop song : )"

A few minutes later, Anna and some of the other people who were part of the dance crew came. They settled on the song "Freeze", all agreeing that it was awesome and addictive. They started coming up with some dance moves. A few minutes later, while they were going over the steps they had come up with, she noticed a black SUV stop by the corner, and two people came out, but she didn't really care. She noticed that there was a kid, though, so he was probably Max's friend.

They kept on dancing until the song ended. It was perfect!

"Great work, you guys," Anna smiled at all of them. "And thanks for bringing us all here, Alex."

"No problem," She smiled. "You guys can go home now, by the way. I'm just gonna wait for my little brother."

"Okay then. See you later," Anna waved good-bye and all of the dancers went out. When Alex searched the place and realized that the dude she had seen get off the SUV disappeared, yet the kid was still there at the side of the court, so he probably wasn't one of Max's little friends.

She glanced at Max and his 'team', they were arguing about three-pointers, which obviously couldn't be done since the court was too small, but others begged to differ. Then they were arguing about putting the ball in the basket…for some reason.

"Hey, Alex, you're tall," Max called all of a sudden, "Can you try shooting the ball from here?" He asked, stepping on the line that separated the basketball court from the grass.

"Um, okay? I guess?" Alex shrugged as she went up the court, got the ball from a kid and stood at the tip of the court. "But I'm no good at basketball, Max, and you know that."

"Just try," Max said, determined. Alex took a deep breath and slowly threw the ball towards the basket.

"Whoaaa," Alex gasped as she saw that it went in, "That was a lucky one." She saw the little loner kid at the side, finding him vaguely familiar, and saw his shocked expression.

"Hey little guy," She greeted him with a friendly smile.

--------------------- A few minutes ago

"Frankie, want a hotdog?" Nate asked, his attention finally off the dancing girl. Even from the back, he could tell that she was gorgeous. Frankie nodded, wanting to play with the guys, but became shy. "Okay, you just stay there, alright? I'll be back in a sec. Don't move." Nate made sure Frankie understood the words 'don't move' before going off to buy a hotdog.

A few minutes later, the dancing girls stopped and all but one went away. _She's probably the sister of the short guy_, Frankie thought as he called her and she went on his way. He said something about her being tall and she nodded, grabbing the ball from a kid. She went to the edge of the court, where bits of grass started to grow, and tried to shoot. Frankie shook his head—it just couldn't be done…but when the ball went inside the basket, his jaw fell on the floor. The kids went in frenzy, giving hi-fives and attempting to do it themselves. Suddenly, the pretty girl who was the short kid's sister, approached Frankie.

"Hey little guy," She smiled, and then he knew that she wasn't like other girls. He didn't scream at him and at how cute his brothers were, she was just generally down-to-earth and…well, _normal_.

"Hey," Frankie smiled back, "You were really good. Do you play basketball?"

Alex giggled as she imagined herself actually becoming an athlete…psh, it required work and moving. Ugh. She shook her head, "No, I'm too lazy for that…moving kind of stuff. By the way, I'm Alex."

"I'm Frankie." He said.

"Hey, Frankie, you didn't introduce me to your friend," Nate joked as he approached his brother and one of the girls who danced earlier. Frankie and Alex both looked up and Nate…stopped. Okay, this girl was _insanely _pretty that Nate forgot about Hannah Montana for five seconds straight, but thinking of pretty led to flowers and Hannah _loved _flowers. He sighed as he put on a smile.

Alex raised a brow curiously. She knew that she knew this guy. Was he from school? Naw, probably not, because if he was, he'd say 'Hey, Alex!' or something like that. Who was he? Um, um, it was at the tip of her tongue, but…oh well. "Who are you again?" She asked, a brow furrowed.

_Who are you again_? Seriously? Nate was expecting something like a deranged scream or a hug, or a kiss, or something crazy that fan girls usually do. "Um, you don't know who I am?" He managed, shocked.

"Okay, that is a really cocky thing to say," Alex rolled her eyes. Wait, speaking of cocky, the first person that got inside her head was that Shane Gray guy. "No, wait, don't tell me, you're part of that gay Connect Three band?" Alex said sarcastically, but little did she know that she hit the mark, bull's eye… except for the gay part, though.

"What did you just call my brothers and me?!" Nate asked, furious.

"I told you not to tell me," Alex said wittily, getting scared a bit. Okay, so she had just insulted two famous people in one week…and they were _brothers_. "Wait—please don't tell me that you're the band with the awesome Big Rob?" She imagined how easily Big Rob could squash her, just for insulting two famous brothers.

"So you like _him _more than the band?" Nate checked.

"I'm not gonna answer that," Alex shook her head, "Max, let's go before a big rapper beats us up and makes us…ketchup."

"Ketchup?" Nate questioned, a smile tugging at the end of his lips. He always thought random people (girls) were cute. He just couldn't admit that this one was cute (anymore) because of what she just said.

"What? If we go home _now_, we'd still get to work," Max frowned, "An hour more, Alex. C'mon."

"_Alex_." The name was tattooed to Nate's brain. At that point, he remembered that Shane was also head-over-heels in-love with another girl named Alex. It _was_ another Alex, right? I mean, the name Alex is real common, and it could be short for Alexandra. _Right_?

"Let's go." Alex shook her head and grabbed Max by the arm. Before leaving, she went back to Nate (and he was happy, hoping that she'd come to her senses and apologize, and they'd both live happily ever after together) and spat, "**You don't know where I live.**" And then suddenly, she yelled, "_Run, Max! Run!_" And both of them sped off. Nate couldn't help but chuckle.

Suddenly, Nate's phone vibrated. It was a message from Shane. "Where's lunch?"

"Where do you wanna eat?" Nate asked Frankie, who was too busy devouring his hotdog to pay attention to anything.

"I'm eating right now, so I don't really care." Frankie shrugged.

"Okay, let's just go 'round New York, huh?" Nate laughed and both of the brothers got inside the SUV.

"Everything okay back there?" Big Rob clarified, starting the car.

"Yeah, everything's cool." Nate answered back.

"Oh, so it's _cool_ for a really good-looking girl to run away from you, Nate?" Big Rob joked.

"Just drive. Please." Nate shook his head, upset at the fact that he just let an attractive girl out of his grip. A few meters away, Nate saw the Waverly Place Substation. "Looks good," He thought and sent Shane the address. "I guess we're eating here."

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"You insulted a famous person?" Justin clarified, "And that famous person was Nate Gray?"

"Oooh, you're gonna get it," Max shook his head.

"Oh just shut up and give me my orders!" Alex rolled her eyes and got a tray and put the sandwiches on them and began serving the people their meals.

A few orders and cleaning tables and getting more orders later, Alex, Justin and Max realized that there was a huge crowd outside their substation.

"Business is doing good these days," Jerry commented. "Someone open the door, guys."

"ALEX, you do it," Justin and Max said in unison as they escaped to the lair.

Alex rolled her eyes as she opened the Substation door. Suddenly…

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"God, the paparazzi is impossible," Shane grumbled, hoping to get inside the substation with his shirt on. "You suck, Nate."

"Oh, shut up," Nate rolled his eyes, his grip tightening on his little brother. Jason stayed behind and waited with their parents, hoping that the paparazzi would all leave when Shane, Nate and Frankie would be inside.

As if on cue, the restaurant's door opened. Shane got inside, fixed his crumpled shirt and messy hair, and suddenly, he saw _her. _

"_Alex_." He said, a smile forming on his beautiful face. For once, he didn't care about his clothes, or his hair. What were the odds?

"You _work _here?" Nate asked, seeing Alex wearing an apron and carrying a tray. His emotion was a mix of shock, excitement, joy, and anger.

* * *

**There you gooo:)**

It wasn't that lame, but it was boring, I guess, but definately better than the "PROLOUGE". Haah :p

Review please :D *huggs*

:)) xxx.


	3. II More Than Just Pretty Faces

**WHOAAAAA. **Superfast update alert! Hah, but you've gotta admit, that was fast. :O (But don't expect that for later chapters, though)

And I'm just gunna tell you in advance: this chapter is loaded with **SHALEX** stuff ;) Don't worry, I'll add some NALEX later, chill. Haha :D So yuhh, that's it.

**DISCLAIMER: I OWN NOTHING EXCEPT MY SOUL ;)**

Enjoyy :)

**CHAPTER DOS - MORE THAN JUST PRETTY FACES**

***shalex picture of the day link my profile ;)**

* * *

"Oh, so you _do_ know where I live," Alex murmured to herself, "That sucks." Following procedure, she closed the door and lead the three brothers to an empty booth near the window.

"Shane, let's…let's go to another restaurant, I'm sure there are a lot of 'em here in New York." Nate suggested, feeling awkward.

"No, we'll stay." Shane said firmly, giving Alex one of his five-star, knee-wobbling smiles. Alex rolled her eyes, which caused Nate to smirk. That would've been the first time a girl didn't get swept off her feet.

"Okay, so there are only three of you…?" Alex said softly, grabbing a pad of small paper and a pen.

"Three more are coming." Nate responded, sitting down. Shane followed after him.

"So that's six," Alex nodded to herself.

"Good, you can add." Nate whispered softly, hoping that Alex wouldn't hear.

"Another one of your little wisecracks and I'm totally gonna spit on your sandwiches," Alex snapped before turning around and grabbing three menus. Shane snickered at Nate, who just looked out the window.

"Hey, it's you," A cute little voice greeted Alex. Oh, she didn't even realize that Frankie was there! Despite her…um, dislike, for the two brothers (Jason was okay for her); she just couldn't help but find Frankie totally adorable. He was seated across Nate, a huge goofy grin on his face. Shane furrowed his brows—Frankie _knew_ Alex?

"Aww, hey," Alex smirked, happiness crawling inside her system. She turned to Nate and Shane and murmured, "Tell you what—I'll come back when the other three come, okay?"

"Can't we just order now and you come back when the three of them arrive?" Nate whined like a five-year-old kid. Truth be told, he was really hungry because he skipped breakfast to go to the airport, and a hungry Nate equals a grumpy Nate.

"No, because that would mean that I'd have to come back and take three other orders," Alex shook her head, firmly. "Why can't you just accept that…and _move on_? Patience is a virtue," She rolled her eyes and left.

"You're awfully silent," Nate commented as Alex—otherwise known as their good-looking, ill-tempered but nevertheless, _hot_ waitress—was out of earshot. He glanced at Shane who looked like he was…thinking. When Shane didn't respond, he added, "Dude, stop thinking—you might hurt your head."

"Shut up, Nate," Shane grumbled. "I'm trying to think of the best pick-up lines—I have to pick something extra-awesome to get Alex to go out with me."

"_What_?" Nate refused to believe that…that…that Shane was trying to get _Alex_—their good-looking, ill-tempered but nevertheless _hot _waitress—to go out with him. Shane was _never_ like that. The girls went after him, not the other way around! And of course, he wanted to sweep Alex off her feet after they had their lunch…if that was ever possible.

"Remember that amazing girl I told you about last night?" Shane recapped, "Well, that's her. Her name's Alex."

"Yeah, I know, we met," Nate grumbled, remembering their little encounter earlier.

"You _met_?" Shane repeated, and Nate expected him to have a cow. But instead, a smile spread in his face, "She's awesome, isn't she?" Nate nodded, not wanting to get into the details of the different levels of her awesomeness. Yet, inside his head, he enumerated: Alex is awesome because she's _witty, not easily offended, 'one of the guys', not over-reacting, cute without even trying, so cute she's beautiful, so beautiful, she's HOT. _And they've just met. He secretly wondered what else Alex had inside of her—maybe she was into sports? Man, that would be awesome!

"She's a great dancer, too," Nate murmured softly, yet hoping his tone had been casual.

"You've seen her dance?" Shane asked before Nate could even explain.

"Yeah, she was at the place with the basketball court," Nate said.

"She's real nice, too," Frankie joined in, a humungous smile on his face. "We're friends."

"Ah, that makes one of us," Shane shook his head.

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"Justin, you take Connect Three's order," Alex said sternly, getting inside the lair, where Max and Justin were chilling. Justin looked up, a look of doubt cast upon his face. "And _no_ I am not kidding. Just go take their order."

"…you're not kidding?" Justin checked, Alex nodded, uncaring.

"Nope. Now go, go, run like the wind." Alex stated sarcastically, grinning at Max who was eavesdropping.

"Why wouldn't you take Connect Three's order?" Max asked curiously as Justin sped off. Alex sat beside him.

"Because I just insulted two brothers, who are seated beside each other—and are really tall and toned," Alex shrugged. "They could kill me, and if the fan girls—oh don't get me started about _them_—find out that I called Connect Three gay, they'd murder me in my sleep." She shuddered.

"Oh, cool." Max shrugged, probably not even knowing what they were talking about. He was a stupid little boy with an attention span of .75 seconds. Alex rolled her eyes.

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Nate and Shane were laughing their heads off, thinking of pick-up lines, when Nate realized that a new waiter was there. Shane saw that Nate was looking at someone behind him, since he was facing Nate, and immediately assumed that it was Alex who was standing there.

Shane quickly turned around and blurted out, "I was blinded by your beauty so I'm going to need your name and number for insurance reaso…wait a second, you're not Alex." Nate was laughing his ass off at this.

"Oh, okay," Justin played along, "Justin Russo, and my number is—"

"Okay, just _stop_." Shane shook his head, embarrassed. Nate was giving Frankie a hi-five.

"Nice pick up lines, Shane," Nate said in between laughs. Shane gave him a dagger stare.

"Where's Alex?" Shane asked, turning to Justin. "And just so you know, I'm not gay—that was meant for her."

"Oh, _good_," Justin let out a sigh of relief, "Anyway, Alex is being her little lazy self, so I'm sorry if she made a real bad impression on you guys—the Substation is awesome, and the help is awesome, too, except for Alex. So, there are three of you?"

"Mom, dad and our other brother is coming in a while," Nate said again.

"Alright then, I'll just get your orders now," Justin nodded to himself as he got out his pen and paper.

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About thirty minutes later, Alex believed that the coast was clear—that the Connect Three and their family were gone, that no famous people (or famous people's bodyguards) were around, so she went up to their house, only to find…

"Mom, dad, what are these famous people doing in our house?" Alex blurted out, started. The whole Gray family was there! Mr. and Mrs. Gray, Jason, Shane, Nate and even Frankie. (No sign of Big Rob, though, _whew_!) Mr. and Mrs. Gray were seated with Teresa and Jerry, Jason was sitting at one of the individual chairs at their right while Shane and Nate were at the breakfast table. Frankie was sitting in between Nate and Shane.

"Honey, be nice," Teresa shook her head (Shane and Nate were loving the 'what-did-I-do?' look on Alex's face), "These are the Gray's."

"…and you know them _how_?" Alex raised a brow.

"Well, we talked down at the Substation. We invited them over because we just loved their company. I was gonna introduce you, but you disappeared," Teresa explained.

"Um, she's here now…I don't see why you can't introduce us to her," Nate murmured, his eyes transfixed on Alex, who wanted the world to break in half and she'd be stuck in the middle. He couldn't help but smile.

"Great idea," Shane smirked, giving Alex another one of his killer looks.

"Hi, I'm Alex, nice to meet you…people." Alex said forcefully, almost sarcastically.

"Hello, Alex," Mr. Gray stood up and shook her hand firmly, "I'm Mr. Gray, but you can just call me Kevin Sr."

"Nice to meet you," Alex smiled at him.

"…and this is my wife, Denise." He gestured at Mrs. Gray, who was beside him and was absolutely dazzling.

"Now I see where the boys get their good looks from," Alex blurted out all of a sudden, to both Kevin Sr. and Denise. _Wait. What? _ "Oh my God, that totally slipped."

"Well, thank you," Denise smiled at her warmly. There was a short silence before Denise, Teresa, Kevin Sr. and Jerry began talking again. Suddenly, Jason looked at Alex and she smiled at him.

"Hi, I'm Jason," He stood up and gave her his hand. She shook it. "Nice to meet you." Alex turned to Nate, Shane and Frankie who were seated together near the breakfast table. The adults and Jason weren't paying attention to their introductions anymore and began talking about a bunch of other stuff.

"Hi, I'm Shane," He said, winking at her.

"Hi, I'm not interested." Alex replied, her tone coated with fake enthusiasm, despite the fact that—for once in her life—she had this warm, fuzzy feeling in her stomach.

"I'm Nate," Nate smiled sweetly at Alex when they shook hands, and as their skin touched, he could feel electricity run through his veins. (She could feel it, too, but was very close to denying it) "And don't you think you should speak nicer to us? I mean, you know how easily Big Rob could pound you to ketchup." He smirked.

"…ketchup?" Shane raised a brow, puzzled. Alex beamed back at Nate, holding the laughter.

"Nice one," She told him. "Hey Frankie, we meet again."

"Hey Alex," Frankie beamed at her and hugged her tight.

"Aww, you're too sweet," Alex giggled as she hugged Frankie back. He had to be the most adorable eight-year-old she'd ever met! Well…apart from Max, that is.

"Wait—no one said we could hug you," Shane interjected, "My turn," He joked, extending his arms.

"…no," Alex shook her head. "Sorry, I only hug eight-year-olds."

"That's cool. Shane's got the brain of an eight-year-old anyway," Nate teased, nudging his older brother. Alex laughed at this and sat beside Nate.

"So, Alex," Shane began, leaning toward her, "How does it feel to be the prettiest girl in this room?"

"So, Shane," Alex mocked him, "How does it feel to be the cheesiest person I've ever known?"

"Feels great—at least, whenever you hear a cheesy quote, you'll think, 'Shane Gray'." Shane smirked playfully at her.

"Okay…" Alex raised a brow, "Have you guys seen my brothers?" She asked.

"Yeah, the older one…Justin, went out with his friend. Something about Gargoyles and Dungeons." Nate shrugged. "And the smaller one, Max, I really don't know what happened to him."

"He must be having another one of his little adventures in his room," Alex concluded, "Hey Frankie, don't you wanna go hang out with Max? I think you guys would have fun together," Alex smiled at Frankie, worried that the kid might be out-of-place and bored. "He has these really cool toy cars that have real engine sounds!" She tried to sound eager.

"Cool!" Frankie exclaimed, an excited expression on his cute, little face. "Where is he?"

"Well, you go up the stairs there and go to the second door on the left." Alex pointed toward the steel staircase. She patted Frankie encouragingly on the shoulder as he ran as fast as he could to Max and his toy cars with real engine sounds. _Wait, wrong move, Alex._ She mentally cursed to herself. _Now I'm stuck with these two…Talk about awkward. _

"That got rid of him, but what about my other brother?" Shane asked jokingly, breaking the silence as Nate grimaced at him.

"No, let him stay. I like him." Alex stuck her tongue out as she moved to Frankie's seat, in between Shane and Nate.

"…you do?" Nate questioned shyly, his face turning pink.

"Psh, not like _that_. I just like pissing Shane off." Alex laughed as Nate's face fell. "But you know what, you guys are pretty okay…well, aside from the fact that you guys spill smoothies at other people randomly and get offended when I call your band gay. But what other person in the world doesn't?"

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Nate, Jason and Frankie got inside their hotel room at about two in the afternoon. They'd been going around Times Square, and just having fun, signing autographs and taking pictures, stuff like that. And luckily, this time, they got out alive, and not a tear in their shirts. Shane had to stay behind because he overslept. Again.

"Hey _Alex_, wanna hang out today?" Nate heard Shane say. "Hey Alex, wanna _hang out_ today?" He repeated, this time emphasizing 'hang-out'. Nate found out that Shane was in the comfort room, facing the mirror.

"…and what exactly are you doing?" Nate asked, leaning on the open comfort room door.

"He's practicing his charisma," Frankie replied from behind and began bouncing on the bed. "He does that all the time."

"Ah." Nate laughed, "You're asking Alex out?" He said a little softly, but more as a conclusion than a question.

"Yeah." Shane nodded, "Are you alright with that?" He turned his back from the mirror and faced Nate.

"Um…why wouldn't I be?" It had been three days since Nate step foot on the Russo's house, and he still couldn't admit to himself that he was, in fact, falling for Alex. "What? You think I like Alex in _that_ way? Well, I don't. I have… I have…I'm with…" He stopped himself, _not this again_.

"Nate, no matter how strong your 'faith' is and how many times you say that, you and Hannah are over." Shane shook his head, saying this sternly. "I know I may sound inconsiderate, but I just want you to get over her. There are so many other fish in the sea, dude! Hannah is just one of the guppies. There are way more cooler girls there. Like, cooler girls, like sharks!"

"Uh, yeah, whatever." Nate went away, up on his bed, got his laptop and probably started typing lyrics or something he does to let off some steam. Shane hated seeing Nate depressed, but it was the only way he could get over Hannah. He couldn't believe that he _wouldn't_ be over Hannah, after meeting someone as awesome as Alex.

"…so, we're getting fish, then?" Jason said in a soft whisper. "You know, we could get an aquarium and put it outside and then the fish and the birds can make friends and live happily ever after!"

"You just keep on dreaming, Jason," Nate whispered, shaking his head. This time, he didn't even laugh at something stupid Jason said, so he must've been pretty pissed.

Shane thought for a while as he began to fix his hair. He really _did_ want Nate to move on—he didn't want his younger brother to be miserable and nearly suicidal just because Hannah-freakin-Montana decided to break his heart. And there was no denying that Nate _did_ like Alex in _that_ way (it was so obvious, a blind man could see it), but Shane wanted Alex all for himself. After all, _he_ saw her _first_, right? It was only fair.

"Tell mom and dad I'll be back for dinner," Shane announced, putting on his jacket. "I'm going over to Alex's, guys. See you later."

"Bye!" Jason waved chirpily. Frankie just grunted in response, worn out after a few minutes of nonstop bouncing on the bed. He began to close his eyes and slept on Shane's bed. Nate didn't even say anything, not even 'have a good day' or 'remember to pack an extra shirt'.

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"Hey Alex, what's up?" Shane greeted her, sitting on one of the chairs near the cash register in the Substation.

"Well, Shane, I'm _working_." Alex said slowly, like Shane was a three-year-old incapable of understanding English. "It's a thing we poor, non-famous people do, because, you see, we don't earn millions just by breaking into song."

"Ah, now I get it," Shane decided to play along and laughed at his own words. "Anyway, what time will you be off?"

"About twenty minutes, why?" Alex asked, not taking her eyes off the cash register. She was pressing some buttons and looked like she was doing something complicated.

"What exactly are you doing?" Shane raised a brow, trying to figure out what Alex was doing.

"I am trying to look like I am doing something with the cash register, so that my dad will think I'm working even though only Justin and Max are working their butts off." Alex stated, her voice monotone. "It worked! I'm awesome."

"Hey, Alex," Justin went out of the kitchen and placed a few sandwiches on the counter, "Can you give this to table three?" He asked.

"I'm doing something." Alex murmured, pressing some more buttons. "Can't you see?"

"Oh, okay then," Justin shrugged it off and did it himself.

"Nice job," Shane grinned, amused. "You've got it in you, Alex,"

"I know, right?" Alex looked up for once and winked at him. "Besides, Justin is such a wiener. He'd believe me if I said I was working even though I was eating cookies."

"So…what're your plans after doing this…work thing?" Shane questioned, trying to make small-talk and hopefully get Alex on a date. Alex shrugged in response.

"I don't really know, maybe I'll just go upstairs and hang out with Harper or something. Why? What did you have in mind?"

"Well, I wanted to, y'know…um," Shane couldn't believe it—there was _no_ way he was acting nervous around some girl. Well…then again, it wasn't just _some _girl, it was _Alex_. "Maybe you'd wanna…like, go out with me later?"

"You mean like on a date?" Alex raised a brow curiously, holding back a laugh, because seeing Shane so awkward and practically sweating buckets was just such a funny sight.

"Hey—you can call it whatever you want to call it. As long as you're there, and I'm there, it doesn't really matter what you call it." Shane got his confidence back and gave Alex Goosebumps. She knew she had to stop hanging out with Shane, or else these Goosebumps might become…_something more_. She felt her cheeks burn—they turned bright scarlet—as she looked down on the cash register, avoiding eye contact with Shane, who was smiling, victorious.

Twenty Minutes Later

"Mom, dad, I'm going out!" Alex announced to her parents who were in the kitchen.

"Did you even work today?" Jerry asked, busy with orders. "I didn't see you take orders or give any to the customers."

"Busted." Shane murmured beneath his breath.

"Not quite," Alex whispered softly to him. "I was just…I was fixing that broken cash register! Took some time, but I did it, daddy," Alex said loudly, so that Jerry and Teresa could hear.

"_Niiiice_," Shane patted her at the back, "You have got to be the best liar in the whole state!" Alex smiled proudly.

"So, me and Shane are going out, okay guys?" Alex repeated, grabbing her coat, which was lying in the kitchen.

Jerry stopped what he was doing and looked up. "…like, on a _date_?" This got Shane a bit nervous, too…

"I guess you could call it that," Alex shrugged. Shane sighed in relief—Alex didn't say anything like 'A date?! With Shane?! You've gotta be kidding me!' which was the response he expected. "Okay, bye." She said before walking off with Shane.

When they got out of the Substation, Alex asked, "Where are we going?"

"Wherever you wanna go," Shane shrugged. "I mean, just not anywhere with a lot of people…you know how crazy fans get. I might not get out alive," They were just walking around the place, and luckily not a lot of people were around the Substation that day.

"Ah…so that narrows it down to either…the bathroom, my house, or some dark alley." Alex joked.

"…_bathroom_, huh?" Shane winked at her seductively while she felt butterflies flutter in her stomach. Alex just felt so awkward; Shane realized this and mentally cursed to himself. Quickly, he added, "Well, we won't be really having a date when we're in the bathroom…'cause, y'know, we can't be in the same bathroom together."

"Shane, I know no one has ever told you this before…" Alex said slowly, making Shane curious, "…but you can pass for a girl." She giggled as Shane made a face. "And—wait, _wait_, did you just call this a date?"

"Aw, great, you caught me. Now I have to do _this_," Shane pretended to complain as he placed his strong, muscular arms around Alex's shoulders. "…and you might wanna lean your head on my shoulder a little bit…" He grinned at her, secretly hoping that she'd play along. But honestly, she was too preoccupied about his arm around her that she would've done anything. She didn't put her head on his shoulder, though, since it would make it hard for her to walk.

"And you have to do this _why_?" Alex asked, pretending to be annoyed, but in fact, she was the happiest girl in the world.

"'Cause that's what guys do on dates."

"…this feels nice," Alex spat all of a sudden, and Shane's jaw almost fell on the floor, his heart beat accelerating by the second. "I mean…um…as _friends_." She recovered, "I mean…this is a friendly…" She forced herself to say it, "_date_ shared by two…good, good friends. Right?"

"…okay," Shane thought Alex being uneasy and fidgety was adorably cute and went on, "But is it really normal to be acting this nervous when we're just friends?"

"Not when my _friend_ happens to be an incredibly good-looking _rock star_." Shane smiled at her choice of words.

"I hope you're okay with the fact that this will probably be in the tabloids tomorrow morning."

"What?! But no one's even taking pictures!" Alex exclaimed, looking around frantically. The last thing she wanted in the world was the media's attention, and Harper questioning her hatred toward Connect Three…which really was just non-existent, ever since she met them.

"That's what they _want_ you to think." Shane shook his head, "Don't believe me?" Alex's look of doubt made it a clear 'yes', so Shane continued, "Kiss me on the cheek."

"No thanks," Alex refused, turning red.

Shane really didn't want to push her so he shrugged it off, though the idea of Alex just kissing his cheek sent him to heaven for a couple of seconds. "Okay then, where to?"

"Milkyway sounds pretty good right now," Alex suggested, "But I think you _don't_ wanna go there right now."

"No, that's okay. They won't run after me when they see that I have company."

"Yeah, _great_. The only reason they wouldn't be running after you is because they'd be too busy running after me—trying to kill me." Alex rolled her eyes as she gestured towards an empty bench near the sidewalk.

Both of them sat down as Shane kept the ball rolling, "And why would they ever try to kill you?"

"Because I'm going out with you."

"See, that just doesn't make sense." Shane shook his head, thinking. "I mean, why would girls fight over _us_?"

"Because you are all just so gorgeous and kind, and hot and…" Alex stopped when she saw him grinning gloriously, "Hey Shane?" He raised his eyebrows at her, "Your head's getting bigger." She laughed and so did he.  
After a few minutes of awkward silence, Shane spoke, "So…_this_ is our little date?"

"I guess." Alex shrugged, "And I'm feeling really lazy, so this is probably gonna be the highlight of the date." Shane shook his head and laughed at Alex. "What?"

"Nope, the highlight of the date is when I kiss you good-bye."

"You'd be the luckiest guy alive if you'd get away with doing that."

"Yes, I would be." He winked at her, making her heart jump inside her chest.

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Since just plainly sitting in some sidewalk bench became boring for about twenty minutes, Alex and Shane walked toward the park and rode a horse. Alex thought this was really, really romantic while Shane was just enjoying how he was almost _this_ close to completely sweeping Alex off her feet.

"Aww, today was really awesome, Shane," Alex told him, her tone happy. They were merely inches away from each other, sitting at the back of a beautiful white carriage. Alex noticed that after every few minutes, Shane would scoot closer towards her, making her even more nervous.

"This was…_some_ date." Shane chuckled, pretending to stretch his arm but actually putting it around Alex.

"Hey, what time is it?" Alex asked all of a sudden. "I didn't tell mom and dad what time I'd be back."

"It's about four thirty-ish." Shane shrugged—he really didn't care about what the time was. All that mattered was that he and Alex were together. No interruptions.

"You know, if I could travel back in time," Alex turned her head and was shocked to see that there was barely an inch between her face and Shane's, "I would've told myself not to yell at you when I first saw you."

"If I could've traveled back in time," Shane said, "I would've told myself to chase after you." And then he knew it—the way her eyes sparkled when their eyes met, the way she giggled when she'd see him stare at her, the way she grew nervous just by the slightest of his touch. _This was it_. And at that time, he didn't even care about the carriage. He didn't care if the horse had stopped moving, he didn't care about the people watching—heck, he didn't even care if this would be in the front cover of every magazine tomorrow morning. Slowly, he moved his neck forward, sealing the space in-between Alex and himself. Their lips were merely specs away from each other…

"OH CRAP," Alex jumped up from her seat when she felt her phone vibrate.

_Okay, moment over_. Shane frowned, disappointed, but after seeing Alex's face when her Sidekick vibrated, he couldn't help but laugh.

"Who is it?" Shane asked, secretly wishing that it wasn't anything important. Maybe just a message from the phone company or something lame?

"Ugh, Justin." Alex grumpily uttered, "He says I gotta get home and work extra…they must've figured out that the cash register was never broken,"

"Ah." Shane smiled at her, "So I'll drop you off?" Slowly, he inched his face closer to Alex's again.

"No thanks, I can walk home." She gulped.

"But then, if you walk home alone, how can I give you that good-bye kiss?" Shane murmured directly beside her ear, making her shiver.

"Ha-ha, I'll see you next time, Shane." Alex slowly made her way off the carriage, "And besides, I don't _kiss_ on first dates." She grinned, giving him her last smile of the day and walked home.

* * *

And another **WHOAAAAA**. That was pretty long for a superfast update, huh? X] And IDK, I just feel like this chapter is really...bleh. Tsk tsk tsk.

Anyways, please please pleaaase gimme reviews (or else I'll think that my story is crappy as hell and I'll stop writing because I'm utterly depressed of my crappy-as-hell story and I'll fall into a turmoil of utter sadness and never see the light of happiness again and eventually be eaten by sharks in the dark, dark world known as crappy writing...in other words, I'll be real sad and bawl my eyes out...HAH JUST KIDDING ;p) and tell me which part sucked/rocked the most for you :) I love hearing what you dudes have to say so yuhhh :D

OHYEAHOYAH I forgot. Here's the Shalex picture of the dayy in my profile! :D

SO YEAH. Thanks for reading and please gimme a review ;)

xxx.


	4. III Surprise, surprise

**First off, SORRY for not updating in forever.**

**I won't make this long, though. Enjoy.**

**AS COMPLICATED AS LOVE - III. Surprise, surprise :)**

* * *

Two days had passed since Alex and Shane's little 'date'. The cyberspace had been on fire—trying to come up with more rumors to hit Alex and Shane, aside from the most common one: 'Shane Gray on a date with NY girl'. Many Hollywood celebrity-based shows had been pressing the Grays for an interview with all the boys (despite the fact that they only wanted to talk to Shane). They were promised an interview by the end of the week.

Despite the fact that the gossip sites and the discussion boards on the internet had gone overboard with the whole Shane and Alex thing (Shane and NY local make out!), both of them have never really declared…'them' being an item. Well, sure, they act all lovey-dovey, but they weren't really…_going out_, but they really wanted to. It was just that the paparazzi and the deranged fans made it impossible for Shane to go anywhere, and Alex feared for her life, especially since the weekend was over and it was time to face school again.

"Harper, hide me," Alex whispered softly as she put on a hat that was so big, it hid half of her face. "…is the coast clear?" She asked in a squeaky voice.

"Alex, you're being too…neurotic about this," Harper shook her head, "I mean, sure, you went on a date with _the_ Shane Gray—the hottest, most-sought after, most handsome guy in all of Hollywood that girls would actually kill each other to win his affection—but I don't really understand why you're hiding behind that really funky hat!"

"Um…yeah," Alex stared at her best friend in awe. She really didn't get it? "Say that sentence to yourself again and again, until you understand." She rolled her eyes.

"_I mean, sure, you went on a date with _the_ Shane Gray…_" Harper whispered to herself, her face filled with focus and determination. She said this slowly, making mental notes in her head.

"Oh, enough of this, Harper!" Alex groaned, "Did Anna invite you to her little dinner thing for tonight?" She asked, changing the topic as she and Harper sat on one of the benches in the hallway. Surprisingly, both of them reached the school fifteen minutes before the bell would ring, so they had extra time to talk.

"Yeah, she did." Harper grinned happily—and it was about time, too! She was never invited to anything Alex was invited to. "I can't wait! I heard that Medium Rare is awesome."

"…hey, Harper…" Alex began, a plan devising in her head, "…do you think it would be weird if I invited Shane to go with us? I mean, he's a celebrity, I'm sure Anna would love to have him eat with us, don't you think?"

"Well, I guess," Harper shrugged, but gave it a little thought, "But if you do that, then we won't be able to eat dinner privately, don't you think? And besides, I heard that the paparazzi are some real annoying people. They'll never leave us alone! Well, more specifically, you and Shane."

"The guards at Medium Rare won't let the paparazzi inside, Harper," Alex said slowly. "'Cause letting the paparazzi inside a private restaurant could get them arrested…and stuff," She went on, "So you think Anna would be alright with that? And besides—I haven't spoken with Shane for ages!" She exclaimed giddily, grabbing her cellphone.

* * *

Shane groaned as he sat up straight on his bed. He glanced at the little clock on his bedside table; it read "10:45". He looked around their hotel room to find that he was the only one there. Jason and Nate must've gone downstairs with their parents and Frankie to eat breakfast. Shane grinned to himself when he recalled what he had gone through for the past two days—questions about _Alex_, rumors about him dating _Alex_, lectures about making out in public (though he assured his parents that they never did make out)…He was planning for one more date and then he'd officially ask Alex to be his girlfriend. Fast—he knew—but with Alex, he just felt like it didn't matter how long they knew each other. It just seemed like they…fit.

He got up sluggishly and did his daily routine: get up, brush teeth, shower and change clothes. He decided on a gray polo shirt with a light grey tie and a pair of their trademark black skinny jeans. When he was done straightening his hair, approving of his appearance and making sure that his clothes looked good, he went to the bedside table and got his phone. He had two new messages. The first one was from Nate:

"Dude, we're eating breakfast downstairs. WAKE UP!!" And the second one came from Alex.

"heyy shane;] wanna hang out later? sum of my friends and i r eating medium rare 2nite around 7ish. wanna come?" He smiled as he sent her a text: "i'll be there: )" and proceeded downstairs.

When he finally found the restaurant, he quickly spotted his family. He quickly walked towards them and greeted them with a "Good morning, guys."

"Morning." Jason replied first, sipping his hot cocoa.

"Good morning," Both Mr. And Mrs. Gray beamed at their son. Frankie wasn't paying attention; he was too busy eating up his bacon and eggs.

"Hey," Nate greeted him back, his voice muffled since he was eating his pancake. "You woke up early today." He looked at him jokingly, "But seriously—you usually wake up at around lunch time."

"I know—I scared myself there." Shane shook his head, then faced his parents. "Hey, mom, dad, can I go out tonight? My friend Alex and a couple of her other friends are eating out."

"Alex?" Nate repeated, feeling something funny inside. Funny as in 'why didn't Alex ever ask _me_ out'. Well, okay, it isn't _that_ funny, but it felt weird. "You mean, the same Alex that you…supposedly made out with? In public?" He said mischievously, half teasingly and half hoping that his parents wouldn't allow Shane to go.

Shane immediately spotted the disappointed look on both his parents' faces and cleared his throat. "Oh, c'mon guys. How many times do I have to tell you? We didn't even _kiss_…yet."

"We believe you, Shane, sweetie," Mrs. Gray looked at him with a gentle expression on her face, "But you can't go out. Not tonight. You've got to meet up with your publicist and explain to him what to tell the media."

"We certainly don't want you to have a tinted reputation, son," Mr. Gray agreed, "Tonight, we'll be out—you, your mom and I—and we'll have a little talk with your publicist, okay? We'll just straighten things out…before they get out of hand and ruin your name."

Shane groaned quietly to himself—he had already told Alex he'd go. Stupid publicist. Stupid rumor. Stupid gossip sites. Stupid Alex. Wait, no, not that last one.

* * *

"He's coming," Alex whispered to Harper during History class, her smile reaching from ear to ear.

"You have _got_ to introduce us," Harper murmured back, "I hear he's a real sweetie."

"He is," Alex agreed, "I can't believe we're having dinner out with Shane Gray!"

"I can't wait." Harper excitedly exclaimed, "…so, Alex, what're you wearing later? _I'm _thinking of this apple scheme I thought of last week. It's really fab and funky. What do you wearing?"

"Why…do you ask?" Alex shot back slowly. Okay, so she hadn't really been paying attention to her clothes. And she knew very well that she couldn't just settle with a graphic tee and a pair of skinny jeans on their date. That'd look way too plain and give out 'just friends' vibe.

"Well, I don't want us to be caught wearing the same thing!" Harper rolled her eyes, as if _that_ would actually happen!

"Ah, don't worry, we won't." Alex gave her a "thumbs up" sign and turned away, opening her closet in her mind. What would she wear?! Ugh…the things she went through to impress her rock star hopefully-future-boyfriend.

RIIING!

"Finally!" Alex sighed in enthusiasm as she went out of Spanish with Harper, "Are you coming over? Or will we catch up in Medium Rare?" She asked, heading to her locker.

"I guess we'll see each other there." Harper shrugged, "I have to go home straight away to prepare my apple-themed clothes. They're gonna be awesome!"

Alex parted ways with Harper and headed straight home. There, she left a note on the fridge saying "Out to dinner with Anna, **Shane GRAY**!, Harper and the rest of my friends. I have too many." And then she hopped into her room and ransacked her closet for something presentable to wear in front of a celebrity rock star.

After thirty minutes, she finally settled on a purple-colored spaghetti-strapped shirt over black long-sleeved ones, and a purple skirt with ruffles at the end which fell on her knees. To top it all off, she wore black sparkly ballet flats. "There." Alex smiled at herself as she twirled around to see her reflection on her bedroom mirror. Then she went to the bathroom where she applied mascara and light pink lip-gloss.

* * *

It was six thirty, and Shane was told by his parents to dress up. It was time to meet up with his publicist. Oh, the joy. Whatever they said, he still thought this was way too overboard. Ditching a date to go meet up with a publicist? Really? He rolled his eyes at Nate, who was dressed in a wife beater and boxer shorts, sitting lazily on the couch in their room, having a Hannah Montana marathon on DVD. Jason was out with Frankie, since Nate was being emo again. Okay, so it was all Nate's fault. It was his fault why Shane couldn't go out with Alex and meet her friends.

"Dude, get dressed." Shane spat at Nate, still not getting over it. "You're going out tonight."

"Why?" Nate, grumpy, replied. "You're the one who's going out. Not me." His eyes didn't leave the screen. Hannah used to be his _girlfriend_. He used to be her 24/7…that was, of course, _before _she chose to leave him.

"Yes, but you have to go to Medium Rare and tell Alex it was your fault why I couldn't make it." Shane said sternly, grabbing a white long-sleeved polo and a red tie. "She still thinks I'm going, so she needs an explanation to why I'm missing it, don't you think?"

"Dude, you are an idiot." Nate rolled his eyes, "Why don't you just text her or something?"

"Don't you watch romantic cliché movies?" Shane raised a brow, "Well, it's just impolite for a guy to text a girl about how he's not going, whatever blah, it makes the girl feel like he's cheating on her."

"Ah, of course," Nate said sarcastically, "Tell Jason to do it. Why does it have to be me?"

"Because you're the one who messed this up." Shane responded, "You're the reason why I couldn't be there. You and your little 'the Alex who you made out with' scheme. Just go there, tell her I can't go because of you, apologize for me, and come back home. If she's upset with me tomorrow, it's all your fault."

"Okaaay, sheesh." Nate got up and got a pair of jeans and a shirt. It was about seven ten when he was ready to leave.

* * *

"Harper, where is he?" Alex questioned frantically. "He's supposed to be here by now! Unless…unless that means he doesn't wanna go out with me anymore…or, or he's cheating on me!"

"Or…maybe he's just _fashionably late_." Harper consoled her best friend, "Calm down, Alex. Just…chill out. He's a celeb after all. Being fashionably late is part of their…routine, I guess," She shrugged.

A few minutes later, they heard a weird noise from outside, and lots of cameras clicking, and lots of interviewers asking questions, and lots of fans screaming their hearts out. "He's here," Harper grinned as she whispered to Alex.

_Finally_. Alex smiled in relief—Shane was here. He _did _wanna go out with her. But then, a really, really attractive boy with curly hair and a goofy yet somehow killer smile entered Medium Rare. He was obviously disturbed by all the attention he had gotten from the paparazzi, but as he stepped inside the restaurant, he looked around for someone. And suddenly, he saw this girl with brown hair and an apple on her head, seated right next to this…dazzling girl with ravel black tresses, caramel-colored eyes and a cute smile. _That's gotta be Alex_, He told himself, his mood getting lighter as he remembered how awesome Alex was. How witty, hot, funny she was. And a million more adjectives, at that! Then he saw that empty seat beside her as he approached. _Shane's seat_. He reminded himself.

"That's not Shane…" Harper noted as Nate approached them.

"Yeah," Alex whispered dryly, half crushed. So Shane _didn't_ wanna go out with her again?

"Hey, Alex." Nate smiled, and every girl in the restaurant craned their necks to get a good look at him. "Um, listen, the reason Shane's not here is 'cause he had a meeting with his publicist…"

"Oh."

"And, um, he sent me here to…um, tell you that…" Now that he was saying this, Nate found it really, really stupid. He went all the way from his hotel to this restaurant to say that, and now he was…going back to his hotel? "Yeah, and he says sorry, by the way."

"Okay…"

"Um, that's it," Nate shrugged before turning back. He headed for the door, but suddenly, he felt someone tug on his left arm. He spun around and saw Alex there, her gorgeous face looking at him with concern.

"Where are you going?" Alex asked, curious and caring.

"Well, I guess back to the hotel, why?" Nate asked back, secretly hoping that Alex would…well, okay, his imagination was getting overboard…

"I thought that if…if Shane's not here to keep me company, maybe you could…um, just stick around and hang out with us?" Alex offered, dead nervous. She didn't know _why_ she was nervous at all. She nibbled on her lower lip—a habit she had when she was anxious—and wished that Nate would accept the invitation.

Hmm, so maybe his imagination _wasn't _that far-fetched. Nate grinned the biggest grin he'd ever…grinned. "Sure, why not?" He told her, though he could barely contain himself inside.

"Hey, guys," Alex turned to her friends, who were occupying one long row of tables, "Shane couldn't make it, so Nate's here. That cool?" She earned a few 'yeahs' from the table—mostly from the girls. "Okay, you can sit here, right next to me." Alex gestured toward the empty seat beside her's, not knowing how happy she made Nate feel inside.

"Hey, Alex," Nate whispered softly yet romantically—making Alex turn red just by his words.

"Um, yeah?" Alex turned to look at him, and for about five seconds, their eyes met. Despite the innocence of the action, both of them felt as if they…_connected_, and as their eyes caught each other, they felt some weird spark inside them. Neither of them said anything.

"You…you…" Nate cleared his throat, breaking the silence, "You look really pretty tonight."

"Thanks," Alex had a small smile on your face, "You clean up well, too,"

"Thanks." Nate smiled back, "So, you must be pretty disappointed that Shane couldn't make it, huh?"

"Well…um, not really," Alex shrugged, "You're not that bad. I mean, you're just as good looking."

"Seriously?" Nate asked, making Alex raise a brow. "You don't think I'm much more attractive than Shane?"

"Tough choice…" Alex pondered for a bit, "Ask me later."

"…okay, what about _now_?" Nate questioned after a few seconds.

"Oh, ha-ha, very funny," Alex said sarcastically, "Okay, let's put it this way…Shane is like, _handsome_. You are just really, really, really cute."

"So, which one of us do you like better?" Nate smirked mischievously, though inside, he was just dying to know.

"Wait, that's not fair," Alex pouted, making Nate chuckle.

"Oh, right, you've already made out with Shane." Nate shook his head, pretending to be hurt.

"Hey! That was a _lie_! Who even started that?" Alex asked to nobody in particular. "We didn't even kiss!"

"Sure—you _didn't_. Wink, wink." He winked at her twice, sending shivers up her spine. Okay, so she'd been blinded by Nate and his attractive little self because she was too busy gawking over Shane. But her whole perspective had changed. She _liked _Nate, but not in a friendly way, but in an 'I'm-slowly-getting-a-crush-on-you' way. It was so_ sick_.

"We didn't, we really didn't." Alex sternly shook her head, "I mean, we _might_"—Nate stiffened at this—"but we didn't. Not yet, at least." There was a momentary silent after that, so Alex murmured, "So how are you and that girlfriend of yours? I mean, how are you handling the…break-up?" She said this softly, "And I'm sorry if I'm being prying or what. It's just that Shane told me about it, and I'm just concerned."

"Shane told you about it?!"

"Well, it might've slipped…once…or twice, or thrice…"

"I guess it's not _that_ bad," Nate shrugged, "Um, I'm pretty okay now…ever since I met this really, really awesome girl here in New York." He smirked.

"And who might that be?" Alex queried nervously, feeling her heart throb and her head spin. Nate sure knew how to work his words and sweep a girl off her feet…

"Wouldn't you like to know?" Nate winked at her before turning his back at her and entertaining this dude beside him who'd been going on and on about guitars, despite the fact that Nate wasn't paying attention.

* * *

Dinner went smoothly—well, of course, if you set aside the awkward 'our-hands-almost-touched-when-we-reached-in-for-the-food-at-the-same-time' and the 'I-swear-she-was-looking-at-me' moments—and it wasn't before long when everyone had to go home…except Alex. Actually, she wasn't expected home until about half past nine, and she didn't want to come home _early_. She had forty minutes left to spare before her curfew ended.

"Alex, I'm going home," Harper murmured softly and hesitated before saying, "My mom doesn't like the new me."

"The _new_ you?" Alex repeated, raising a brow. "…and who's that?"

"You know…the rebellious, not-eating-dinner-with-the-family, staying-up-late Harper. This is just too 'bad-girl' for me." Harper shook her head, embarrassed. "I'm sorry…I can't be a rebel like you."

"Whatever," Alex rolled her eyes at Harper's Little-Miss-Perfect attitude.

"So, are you going home?"

"What? Of course not." Alex shrugged, looking around for some of her friends who were staying behind. Sadly, all of them told her that they were going home. "I guess I'll just go to the mall or something…or, like, maybe go…some place awesome,"

"Good for you!" Harper exclaimed, giving her best friend a thumbs-up sign. "Anyway, I have to go now. I'll catch you tomorrow at school, then?"

"Yeah, sure." Alex nodded, listing some choices for where she'd go next. Mall, park, ice cream store, video game shop…_home_. She watched Harper hail a cab with some of their other friends, while all the rest either went to their own cars or were picked up by their parents. Alex sighed, stuffing her hands in her jacket and started to walk toward the park. She just _loved_ the park; she and Justin used to play there together as kids.

Nate sighed as he finally succeeded in getting out of Medium Rare—that is, after signing the nth autograph and taking so many pictures with fans that he could barely see. He wanted to say good-bye to Alex for two reasons: (a) he was a gentleman by nature. He did that to everyone, and (b) because he needed an excuse to talk to her again. After Mr. Guitar-Extraordinaire started a conversation with him, he didn't get to talk to Alex anymore because all her other "friends" began smothering him and asking him questions.

He looked around outside the restaurant—luckily, no paparazzi or some random person with a camera was in sight. He saw their black SUV parked directly outside the front door, with their driver inside, probably listening to some late night radio station. The right thing to do would've been to get in the car and head for the hotel, _before_ anyone could recognize who he was. But for some strange reason, he found himself looking every corner for Alex. He'd heard her say that she was staying behind and wouldn't go home until about nine thirty.

And then he saw her. Her hands in her pockets, her jacket on, her hair playing with the wind. Alex's petite figure made it obvious that it was, in fact, her Nate was ogling at. Right across Medium Rare, Nate had realized, was some big park. It was dark, except for some lamp posts which lit up the place. He saw her cross the street, and then make her way towards the park. He smiled to himself and followed her slowly—he knew exactly what to do.

He walked over to the park, walking quickly enough before anyone spotted him, and he found Alex sitting alone in one of the wooden benches under a huge tree. She was just sitting there, probably thinking. He was about a meter away from the bench when he wanted to chicken out and didn't want to disturb her. But then again, she was _right_ there. It was a split-second decision—to talk to her or to give her the privacy she obviously wanted.

Nate did what every other teenage boy would do. He cleared his throat.

Alex jumped up slightly when he heard someone clear his throat. All along, she thought she was the only one there. When she looked behind her, though, the somewhat scared look on her face turned to a big, happy grin. Standing there awkwardly was—the one and only—Nate Gray.

"Didn't your mom ever tell you it's dangerous for a pretty girl like you to be all alone in a dark place like this?" Nate murmured flirtatiously, but cursed mentally after he realized what he just said, and how utterly lame it sounded.

"Then I guess it's great that you're here to keep me company." Alex giggled, patting the empty seat beside her. Nate nodded and sat down.

"So, what exactly _are_ you doing here, Alex?" Nate asked, deciding to make small talk.

"Nothing, really. Just thinking." She shrugged and answered honestly. "What are you doing here? Shouldn't you go back to your hotel…and order some extremely expensive ice cream or something?"

"And why would I do that?" Nate raised a brow, puzzled at Alex's statement.

"…isn't that what rock stars do?"

"Not all of them." Nate shook his head and smiled at her, making her hands sweaty and her heart thump. "So, you think we're rock stars?" He grinned.

"Hey, Nate?" Alex whispered all of a sudden.

"Yeah?"

"Your head's growing bigger." Alex laughed, and so did Nate. "I'm not really a fan of your music—no offense," Nate grimaced at this, "but Harper says you guys are 'rock stars'." She did air quotes as she said 'rock stars'.

"What do _you_ think?"

"I think you guys are really, really gay." Alex joked, snickering, "But you're alright. And really hot." It was only then that Alex realized how close they were to one another—and how Nate's arm mysteriously happened to be around her. Her stomach tingled and she couldn't help but smile some more.

"You know," Nate uttered softly, making Alex melt, "you aren't like other girls." His eyes were looking right at her caramel orbs, and Alex just felt…right.

"Is that a good thing, or a bad thing?"

"A little bit of both." Nate smiled at her, feeling confident that this would be _it_. He felt proud—he had successfully moved on from Hannah-freaking-Montana. He was just about to inch his face closer to her's when, suddenly, a gazillion flashes snapped right beside them, in front of them, all around them. Alex closed her eyes, wanting to disappear. "I'm sorry," Nate whispered directly beside her ear, making her shiver. He grabbed her by the waist and led her to the SUV, the paparazzi tailing behind them.

When they got safely inside the car, Nate asked the driver to drive them to the Waverly Substation. He looked at Alex apologetically. They had managed to dodge the "are you dating?" questions, but he knew that in the morning, there would be "are you cheating on Shane?" questions all around Hollywood—and especially the gossip sites. He truly felt sorry for Alex, since she'd be the one who'd be having a rough time with school.

"So…" Nate began, "You alright?"

"Yeah." Alex nodded, "Thanks for driving me home—you know, you could just drop me off here and I could walk home."

"Nah, it's alright. It's my pleasure." Nate shook his head and declined her offer. "And besides, why would I want to leave a beautiful girl like you out in the cold? That would just be so wrong." Alex giggled.

"That's sweet." She murmured and rested her head on his shoulder. She had no idea what she did to him. No, not at all. Nate felt like the happiest guy in the entire world, sitting beside the most beautiful girl in the entire galaxy. Alex, on the other hand, felt guilty. Wasn't it just a couple of days ago when she swore she was falling for Shane? And now, here she is in the back of their SUV, sitting directly beside Shane's just-as-hot brother, Nate. "So, what're you gonna do about all the rumors?"

"Nothing, I guess. I mean, Shane's probably gonna kill me, but I don't care." Nate shrugged.

"And why would you _not_ care?"

"Because—at least I get to say that I got the chance of hanging out with the most amazing girl in the world." Nate simply said, making Alex blush. "What are you gonna do about the rumors? I know you must have a rough time being in high school and getting involved with two _very_ hot rock stars."

"I guess I'm not gonna do anything." Alex honestly answered, "I mean, yeah, there are gonna be millions of rumors spreading, but I couldn't care less of what they think of me. They're all just jealous, anyway."

"Oh yeah? Jealous of what?" Nate smiled.

"Jealous of me hanging out with two insanely hot rock stars." She whispered softly, closing the space between her and Nate by scooting towards Nate.

There was a short pause before Nate whispered back, "You know, I seriously want to kiss you right now." Alex giggled and blushed at the same time.

"Well, today's not your lucky day 'cause I don't kiss on first dates." Alex stuck her tongue out, hiding the giddiness that was creeping inside her system.

"Well, I don't really play by the rules." Nate replied, inching his face closer to hers. He stopped when their lips were merely inches apart, hoping for a 'go' signal. He didn't want to move too fast for her.

_Goddamnit, kiss me already_. Alex thought, anxious. And then suddenly, the SUV came to a halt—they had already reached the substation, and from the corner of her eye, Alex spotted Jerry taking out the trash. She knew how much Jerry hated it when Alex hung out with boys, so she grabbed Nate's hand, ruining the moment and crushing his spirit. "Um, look—my dad's right out there and he's gonna freak if he finds out we're about to kiss."

"A…about to kiss? Pfft…psh—who said anything about kissing?" Nate spoke nervously.

"Oh, ha-ha, Nate, very funny." Alex rolled her eyes and quickly gave him a sweet peck on the cheek, making him twice as nervous and making his cheeks flush. "I'll see you tomorrow, then?"

"Why? What's with tomorrow?" Nate asked all of a sudden.

"Nothing, I just thought that maybe you guys wanna hang out? Tomorrow's a Friday, anyway." Alex shrugged. "Or…not…?"

"No—tomorrow would be perfect." Nate smiled at her.

"Great." Alex smiled back before getting off the SUV. Luckily, Jerry didn't see how close Nate and her were. He just smiled at his little girl and asked her how her dinner went.

As Nate told the driver to head back to the hotel, he couldn't help but smile. _Awesome _wouldn't even begin to describe how he felt, and usually, 'awesome' could.

* * *

"Dude, what the hell?" Shane's booming loud voice woke Nate up. When Nate didn't even budge, he pulled his brother's blanket, making Nate shiver and sit upright.

"What's up?" Nate yawned, rubbing his eyes and slowly adjusting to the bright sunlight that poured inside their expensive hotel room. When he looked at Shane closer, he realized that he had his angry face on. "What's up with your face, dude?" He smirked, finding his brother's anger quite amusing.

"Nate, last night I asked to you tell Alex why I couldn't go to the dinner." Shane said and clearly, he was trying his best to control his temper. "I didn't ask you to go on a date with her, Nate!" For a split second, Nate didn't even know what his brother was rambling about. And then, as a love-struck smirk formed on his lips, he recalled what had happened the other night. Alex, date, almost kissing… While his brother was daydreaming, or thinking about who know's what, Shane was getting severely ticked off. "What, you won't even apologize?" Shane snapped after a few minutes of silence.

_I'm not sorry_, Nate thought to himself, his handsome, good-mood grin far from disappearing. However, he knew better than to provoke his older brother. "Oh...about that," He murmured, not even daring to face Shane. "It wasn't a date, you know? We were just hanging out, and talking..." His voice trailed off as Nate headed to the bathroom to wash his face. "So, what're we doing today?" Nate asked before splashing his face with ice-cold faucet water.

"Don't you even try to change the topic." Shane frowned, "What happened last night, huh?"

"I'd say 'nothing', but then I'd be lying." Nate whispered, chuckling to himself. Hopefully, Shane hadn't heard. Apparently, he didn't, because he remained silent. "Look, if you wanna know so badly, go as Alex about it. I'm sure she'd be more than honest."

"I would do that, yeah, but I stopped myself when I saw new articles about you guys on . Apparently, you guys were just about to...kiss?" Shane raised a brow, crossing his arms.

"The key word there is 'about to'." Nate said, getting out of the bathroom. "Look, today's a Friday, and Alex said we could hang out later, after school. Why don't we meet up and you can ask her all abut it?"

Shane nodded, defeated. "Sure."

"Now, what's for breakfast?"

"Hey, I have an idea." Shane said all of a sudden, his voice enthusiastic. "Let's surprise Alex later after school."

"...I like the way you think." Nate agreed, nodding. "What do you think we should do?"

* * *

There :) That's it. I'm sorry I didn't update for FOREVERRR. I know you guys might've even forgotten my story, but with all the Nelena things going on lately, I couldn't help it :)

I'm sorry if things were pretty off-beat and didn't make sense or something. I stopped writing and it felt weird continuing it after that really long 'break'

Anyway. Here's hoping I continue this thing :D

And I'd like to give everyone a big huggg if you're reading this ;) Thanks for your complete awesomeness and for staying with me and for reading my crappy ol story.

**Read & Review, thanksiessss :]**


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